Mining stocks soar ... but can it last?

Gold is glittering and silver is shining so far in 2016. The price of the yellow metal is up nearly 20% while silver has gained more than 25%.

But if you want to see a real metal mania, check out what's going on with stocks of companies that mine the gold and silver.

Newmont Mining(NEM), which reported profits that topped forecasts on Wednesday, has soared more than 70% this year. Silver Wheaton(SLW) has shot up nearly 55%.

And that, amazingly enough, makes them a laggard compared to some of their peers.

The Global X Silver Miners ETF(SIL) has gained an astonishing 80% this year.

Canada's Barrick Gold(ABX) and South Africa-based AngloGold Ashanti(AU) have each more than doubled year-to-date. Two other Canadian miners -- Kinross Gold(KGC) and Yamana Gold(AUY), have each surged about 150%.

So what should investors do now? Should they be licking their pickaxes like Yukon Cornelius -- the gold miner in the Rudolph Christmas special -- and hope for a huge score? Probably not.

Kristoffer Inton, an analyst with Morningstar, thinks that gold prices are likely to retreat over the next few months -- and that should lead to a pullback in the miners too.